Retired driving instructor devastated after vintage Austin Healey he had spent eight years restoring caught fire and burned down his house
It was due to go in for the final finishing touches just days later
A RETIRED driving instructor was left devastated and covered in severe burns to his skin after the Austin Healey he had been lovingly restoring caught fire - and burnt down his HOUSE.
Ron Avant, 70, had been working on the three-litre sports car at his home in Ongar, Essex, when the vehicle suddenly caught fire, just days before he was to drive it for the first time.
Before he knew it the flames had spread from the car and were tearing through the rest of the £550,000 house.
The car-lover, who had been working to restore the Austin for eight years, initially tried to put out the blaze himself - suffering severe burns to his hands and ankles in the process.
The devastating incident happened shortly after 9.30pm last Tuesday, reports .
The 71-year-old was initially taken to Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow but was later transferred to the specialist burns unit at Broomfield Hospital suffering burns and smoke inhalation.
The retired driving instructor, better known as the owner of Ron's School of Driving, was coming to the end of the mammoth project and had booked the car in for its final body work spray when the fire took hold.
Devastatingly at the weekend the car was due to go off to be sprayed for the finishing touches.
But the final blow came when fire crews told the pensioner and 62-year-old wife Gwen that the fire had ravaged their home so badly it will completely need rebuilding after five or six explosions rocked the garage.
Heartbroken Ron told the website: "The car caught fire somehow and the fire brigade has said there was a gas pipe on the right hand side of the garage. The solder joint went then the flames just went up through the gas pipe and into the house.
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"It's a complete rebuild basically."
Wife Gwen was also taken to hospital by medics after flames tore through the roof of the garage and first floor of their detached property. She was later released but Ron was kept in overnight before being discharged on Friday.
Their son Chris, 37, said: "I’m just happy my Dad is alright, he’s just shaken up and gutted. This is the family home and they have been here for 40 years and I grew up here.
";He was under the bonnet when it went up and he ran off to try and fight it.
"Mum called the fire brigade and he got the hose out trying to battle it and that’s how he burnt his hands, face, throat and ankles.
"He got them from trying to fight the fire with a bloody hose.
"He was wearing slippers at the time and when the car went up he just legged it."
Thankfully the experienced mechanic escaped severe injury in what his son dubbed a “miracle escape” and is recuperating after spending two days in hospital.
He said: "My dad is okay, he’s just got quite bad superficial burns to his hands and ankles. The burn on his face is just like a sun tan.
"They don’t even think they’ll scar, it’s a miracle escape.
";Dad was rushed to hospital and then transferred to a specialist hospital as he had burns on his ankles and face."
To add insult to injury car-mad former driving instructor was set to have the Austin-Healey 3000 sprayed powder blue and cream just days later.
It wasn’t the first time he had built a kit car as he built an AC Cobra and then moved on to the English sportster.
Essex County Fire and Rescue Service sent five fire crews to battle the blaze, finding the roof and garage 100 per cent alight and the first floor 50 per cent alight.
It took firefighters more than five hours to extinguish the flames.
A neighbour added: "Ron was working on it. He came out and moved his other two cars which were in the drive. Meanwhile, there were two or three explosions and caught the house on fire.
"The fire crews filled up the road; there was another big unit with a cherry picker and doused the roof for another hour.
"I'm just grateful it was contained."
Thankfully the house is covered by insurance and the couple have found a temporary home on the same street to stay in while the house is repaired.
This is expected to take six to nine months.
Chris, a production manager at an electrical manufacturing company, said: "He was building it over the past eight years and this weekend it was going to be sprayed, which is the last thing you can pretty much do.
"When I was a kid I had a poster of a Lamborghini on my wall and my dad had an Austin-Healey. It was his dream car, and he had always wanted one. That’s why he was building it.
"Christ knows how many hours he put into it, he was out here every night tinkering with it when he wasn’t looking after my kids.
"My dad is so shaken up and he’s upset that it is fault as he was working on his car. If he was doing what most retired people were it wouldn’t have happened."
When finished the car would have been a replica of the iconic three litre sports car, which tore across the European rally scene from 1959-67.
It would have been worth up to £50,000.
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